Cuban Consul General to The Bahamas Felix Wilson yesterday condemned the ﾓcriminalﾒ act at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre last week, saying that such action must not be tolerated.
Mr. Wilson also told the Bahama Journal that he hopes that the illegal Cuban immigrants who started the fire and led the attack at the centre be repatriated as soon as possible.
He said a clear message must be sent that resorting to crime is not the answer to frustrations that the immigrants may be feeling.
Government officials, meanwhile, have been meeting with Mr. Wilson as part of their overall response to the incident at the camp, which left 11 Defence Force officers and nine Cubans injured.
On Monday, two Cuban men were still being detained at the Princess Margaret Hospital, according to immigration authorities.
Government officials continue to point to the importance of keeping an open relationship with Cuba in addressing illegal immigration from that Communist nation.
Mr. Wilson claimed that ﾓright wingedﾒ anti-Cuban fundamentalist groups like Vigilia Mambisa use Cuban migrants to gain political interest in the United States.
The group recently demonstrated in front of the Bahamas Consulate General in Miami, advocating a boycott of Bahamian tourism and demanding that conditions at the detention centre be improved.
ﾓThis group, Vigilia Mambisa, is one of the dozens of groups in Miami that have been acting and carrying out anti-Cuban actions over the past 45 years,ﾒ Mr. Wilson claimed. ﾓI read in the newspaper where Vigilia Mambisa said that the Cubans at the detention centre were given dog food to eat. That expression shows the extent of truth in their statements.
ﾓIt does not compute to me that these events really occurred because in my visiting the detention centre no Cuban has complained of being fed dog food.ﾒ
Mr. Wilson said he visited the detention centre the day before the fire to address concerns of Cuban detainees.
Those complaints included too much pepper in Bahamian food, inadequate time allocated to spend with family visiting from the United States, inadequate phone time to speak with loved ones, and lengthy waits to be properly processed.
He referred to the Cuban detainees as being very out spoken, even voicing their grievances in the presence of officers.
However, Mr. Wilson said the allegations of physical abuse of detainees at the detention centre as reported by groups like Amnesty International are unfounded.
ﾓWhen I was there I never saw anyone bleeding from the eye or the mouth because he was hit or knocked down by an officer,ﾒ he said. ﾓI never saw someone who told me ﾑsee my arm is broken because of authorities at the detention centreﾴ. If there is any situation involving a beating at the centre I am unaware of it.ﾒ
Mr. Wilson said he hopes that the bi-lateral relationship between The Bahamas and Cuba is not adversely affected because of these events
Perez Clarke, The Bahama Journal
